NASA’s fleet of Earth-observing spacecraft provides
a unique view of our home planet...and from your computer,
you can view and share that dynamic planet as it is “right now.”
Using NASA’s Worldview app you can watch tropical storms
develop over the Pacific Ocean; track the movement of icebergs after they
calve from glaciers and ice shelves; see wildfires spread and grow
grow as they burn vegetation in their path.
And pan and zoom to your region of the world to not only see what it looks like today, but to
investigate changes over time. With Worldview’s map interface,
capture what’s interesting to you with a snapshot or an animated gif.
Start by going to worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov.
When you first open the app, Worldview
has a pre-loaded natural color image – observed by the MODIS instrument onboard
NASA’s Terra satellite. If you’d like to experiment with NASA’s
other satellite views of our home planet, you can click the “Add Layers” button
button on the left side of the screen and find different ways to look at Earth.
Once you’ve got your layer selected,
pan and zoom into the location you’re interested in.
You can also switch from the traditional geographic view
to a polar view, to take a closer look at the Arctic or Antarctic regions.
Now it’s time to create your gif. Click the video camera icon
on the left side of the timeline along the bottom of the page.
Select the date range you’re interested in. Worldview automatically sets
to 10-day increments, but you can increase or decrease that timespan, and look at
present day or the past. If you’re looking at the present day, you may
see a big black swath. That’s because the data is so new,
it’s still coming down! Step back a day to get a full image.
Click the "Create Animated GIF" icon on the right
side of the Animation box. Drag and adjust the box to select the region you want,
then click the orange arrow in the middle. There it is!
Worldview has created your gif and you can download it! Now for the most important step...
share it! You can post it online with
#NASA4Earth to help NASA, and the rest of us here on our home planet,
celebrate Earth Day.